Summary of In Lucia’s Eyes
“In Lucia’s Eyes” is a historical novel, set in 18th-century Northern Italy and Amsterdam. It tells the story of Lucia, the first love of Giacomo Casanova. Raised as the daughter of servants at a castle in Pasiano, near Venice, Lucia falls in love with Casanova. However, he considers her too young and promises to return in six months. Yet before his return, Lucia contracts smallpox, leaving her face scarred. Ashamed, she leaves her home and eventually becomes a veiled, mysterious prostitute in Amsterdam, where, years later, she encounters Casanova again, now a notorious womaniser. He does not recognise his former love behind the veil, but they become lovers once more, and Lucia wrestles with how to explain why she abandoned him in Pasiano.
Reasons to read In Lucia’s Eyes
Arthur Japin based his novel “In Lucia’s Eyes” on the historical diaries of Giacomo Casanova, in which he named Lucia as one of only two women in his life he had wronged. He recounted how she was his first love, yet betrayed him in Pasiano, and how, years later, he encountered her in a brothel in Amsterdam. Japin uses these diary entries as the starting point of his novel, but tells the story through Lucia’s eyes. A celebrated Dutch writer, Arthur Japin won the Libris Literature Prize for this novel. He also wrote “The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi”, a historical novel about two Ghanaian princes raised in the Netherlands during the 19th century. Readers interested in Casanova might also enjoy “Casanova in Bolzano” by Sándor Márai, “Casanova’s Homecoming” by Arthur Schnitzler, or “Casanova” by Andrew Miller.
Setting: Pasiano di Pordenone (Italy) & Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
Original title: Een schitterend gebrek
Year of publication: 2003
Nr of pages: 256
